Listen to this webinar, sponsored by Pramata, Bridging the Gap in Your Automated Systems for True Contract Transformation. Even today's most sophisticated contract management systems and automated processes cannot fully interpret and optimize the financial terms and performance stemming from contracts. As such, every company suffers some degree of revenue leakage. Why?

The “standard” templates you use for commercial contracts inherently limits the type and amount of data needed to fully understand how key financial terms like pricing terms and models impact profitability. Why?

Let's take a moment to discuss how you can get the maximum yield from the terms that exist in your commercial contracts while delivering the best service to your customers, and ensuring compliance across the broad spectrum of transaction, corporate and regulatory requirements?

Join Sally Hughes and LLoyd Alexader to learn how to:

Turn the complex data in commercial contracts into profitable opportunities

Meet technology challenges to deliver a holistic and accurate view of your customers

Bridge the gap to support not only contract teams, but the entire enterprise

Don't miss out on your copy of the Executive Guide for Eliminating Revenue Leakage, see the links below.

Me too. I would be interested to hear what others have found in selection of a CLM.

• EY
•
2019-08-22 09:53:40

Hello,

I am not a buyer of CLM solution but a seller. I work for EY and have developed a easy plug-in and use SharePoint based CLM solution. Would be happy to participate in the RFP/RFI process. My email ID is: Kulbir.kaur@in.ey.com.

As for my tool the below features are available at extremely reasonable pricing and very easy to use format.

Hi Geoff. We found a lot of the systems on the market, whilst all really good, focussed on workflow. Emails and notifications of moments and issues galore. I've always found that you don't need that if you have the right team, this isn't needed. They know what thy have to do, what stage in the process and when. So that for me was a major issue.

The second thing is a lot of them have lots of functionality around the back and forth and negotiation of clauses. I'd suggest again if you have really good templates and good early engagement, you reduce the back and forth required and can get the benefits of quicker turnaround and e-signatures without a bigger system.

I would flag that you should not underestimate the work required to get your current information into the new system. It's probably going to be more than the annual fees to set up. In the RFP / RFI - get them to tell you their plans and costs for getting the records in the system. It's not just the scanning of records, but also the information in the contracts (milestones, conditions) that need to come in.

Finally, I'd really recommend that you bring in as many people as possible into this process, especially in the procurement team. The users and the team are the ones that will have to use this solution going forward and keep your records in that format for all of those wonderful visuals and reports that the new system spits out. I've seen and heard of many instances where the new CLM has failed because the team and users haven't brought into the solution.

We've been lucky with our solution (it's a simple one that we developed in house) because :
(a) it wasn't an all at once deployment. People have had time to think about the system and what it could do
(b) the team have then been able to take the system to an even higher level than anything I had in mind. Templates for contracts, evaluation and issues registers - all really awesome stuff that went way beyond my initial ideas.

I hope this aids your thinking, and if you want to talk further, please message me.

• BDO LLP
•
2019-08-29 15:47:27

I saw your post this morning and wanted to reach out about your question. I lead the consulting practice at BDO USA LLP that focuses on precisely the scenario you are asking about. We are solution/platform agnostic and seek to ensure the "right" solution - regardless of vendor - is selected so that something that is too big or too complex isn't inadvertently chosen from the many, many good solutions out there. Feel free to give me a call at 703-770-4453 or email at tfuchs@bdo.com. I'd be happy to share my thoughts with you. Thanks! Tom

Dear Anonymous,
we are as well facing smth similar within our company, especially what concerns the Contract management tools and systems. Being a contract manager myself I have been a part of the team that is quarterly checking that deals selected by some criteria are properly stored in the tool. Almost all the time they were not. But since we have implemented the now tool it turned out that a sales team can not proceed further with delivery/execution process unless the contract is properly stored in CLM. So this tool is kind of a trigger - if a contract is there, then assignment can be created. And... for such upload - the responsible person is exactly the contract manager/contract administrator, i.e. the person who owns the contract and knows what to upload. Since that time all contracts are there. Sometimes such methods works as well and need to be applied.

•
2016-02-26 15:48:29

I suggest you:
a) define and write up the purpose or importance of timely inputs (for all inputs being overlooked), and
b) measure and summarise the error rates and input times
c) prepare risk assessment and cost benefit analysis/ estimate (hard$ savings unachievable/ consequential time lost/ risk "contingency cost" vs input time) based on a and b.
d) survey all users to identify their excuses/ issues with the system/ lack of awareness/skills
e) summarise above in a report to exec management. Seek system fixes, user training, compliance enforcement and resources to implement these things.
f) If you don't get support from exec, then focus only on the worst problems that you are capable of fixing.

• ABB Contracting Co Ltd.
•
2016-03-30 09:05:04

We also experienced the similar situation and I believe this is somehow natural and common when the control, involvement of higher management and objectives of the people involved are not aligned. Sometime the pressure and the load of the work are also the reasons contributing to such a behavior. What we did was the following:
Conducted training sessions highlighting the importance of the issue and tis consequences for the organization
Top down message highlighting the importance and adherence of the process
regular check up of data and accountability

the outcome was good however it took some time and efforts are still on going

• ABB
•
2016-05-01 05:57:03

i had an over view about all the replies and they are all valid points - if we have a fresh beginning lets say its an advantage so you able to implement the rules rather than change rules - there many points to be addressed as below :
a. Contract administration.
b. relationship and process between different parties during pre and post tender award.
c. risk management and mitigation process.
d. periodical meeting for tender and project review.
e. contract management process and implementing it into a way to be effective and part of both tendering and project process.
... after all i would like to add its very important that top management within your organization to support that - and does not consider it as only consultancy or optional process.

• Contractswise
•
2016-05-18 10:26:49

Have you considered an e-learning module that would increase internal skills and awareness of what improved contract management can achieve? E-learning tends to be very low cost and learners can complete it at times that suit them.

• A+E Project Services
•
2018-04-13 17:05:42

You must list the gaps between your existing processes and what you want to be. These gaps needs to be controlled thru authorisation / automation if you are switching to a software support system else these need to be manually controlled by matrix. The next person in line will not sign till matrix is completed and checklist signed for compliance. this mau slow down but better than what's happening right now.

This is nothing new, rather very frequent in most organizations small or large. Systems are provided as tools to help managing our daily work; if not used and maintained properly to input and process data, no degree of sophistication would help. Having worked with a number of major corporations, using and investing in well developed contracts/procurement management systems I can only say that it happens a lot, but not difficult to overcome.
Like with all matters 'human' in the workplace, it requires continuous and diligent focus and efforts to train, motivate and monitor the users, frequent audits to check performance and usage for corrective actions, sometimes, unfortunately, 'constructive reprimands' are needed to bring everyone on track. It is important to have and allocate an adequate level or resources, systems and personnel combined and identified a budget needed for that to get support of your stakeholders. If you have a well developed contracts department with sufficient personnel, you could train and benefit of database technicians to handle such admin tasks regularly. I had the privilege to work in places where complex systems were designed and in place for contracts / procurement management. Every processing step would have key fields designed in such a way so if these were not filled as required, the user would be stopped from advancing to the next step and completing the task. And finally, such system would be directly linked with the AR/AP so that when getting to payments (this really matters for everyone) these would not be validated until the predecessors required activities/steps were adequately completed. That would be the show stopper. If a complex processing system is not in place, there is still good work to be done using well designed spreadsheets combined with your email messaging board to prompt actions due.
All in all, patience and interest in working with, and helping people to raise the bar and become professional in everything they do, small or big.
Lucia Galdian

• ATCO Electric
•
2017-05-18 19:30:51

We had similar situation. It is always same, nobody wants extra work, or deviate from their routine what they have been doing for years. We organized lot of information sessions, lunch and learn for key people to sell the idea to them. Once they were convinced that it is good for them and for the organization (or they realized there is no escape..), it was easy to implement our procedure and protocol with the key stakeholders.

•
2017-07-14 17:07:01

I'm bringing in a contract management process from scratch, as previously I would receive instructions in a different form depending on the Sales person - and it was often a brain dump over the phone.

The approach I've taken so far is to approach the Head of Sales & the Sales Manager to get their support, but to also allign the information I want to capture with the information that they are looking for from the team.

It's useful to get backing from their team leads and try to demonstrate how the information your capturing will benefit them in regards to their targets. If they can see value, you'll find that they'll be having the battle for you.

•
2016-11-04 00:00:55

I had the same issue with implementing a new tool nationwide. Agree with all of the answers - my solution was itemizing the ways that the tool would "benefit" the staff who were reluctant to learn the new application/system. ie legal ramifications, Good luck.

• UK Crown Commercial Services
•
2016-01-22 07:26:06

We experienced something similar. We were able to run and produce reports which clearly showed at a very high level the number of gaps in the system info. We also put a sharp focus on the associated risks and missed opportunities that resulted from this. These reports were shared with senior management which put it firmly on the radar of those who needed to know. Important for us (and i imagine anyone) was to clearly link the risks with our organisational objectives so that it was very evident (even if some people thought it unimportant) how gaps in system info could and would limit our ability to achieve company objectives.

• Confidential
•
2016-01-22 14:26:52

I think you'll find consistency across stakeholders is an issue across more than contracts. Each function sees only the value in what is important to their process. We have been able to reduce (not eliminate) the issues you talk about thru establishing a centralized contract area. Only individuals in this area have delegation of authority to sign contracts. Additionally, I will say we do work very well with our stakeholders.

Good luck.

•
2016-01-26 08:20:10

This is a problem I've encountered as well at a previous employer. It's hard to overcome when the "stakeholders" don't want to cooperate because it's a burden. Perhaps a training session where you emphasize the importance of the system (and keeping accurate records) and answer questions about how to map the documents would be helpful. Good luck.

•
2016-01-26 08:30:55

Education, education, and more education. When we revamped our contracting process, it was a major shift in our organization. You will need to effectively communicate the value of contract management and the importance of accurate records. I have gone as far as using examples of contracting scenarios that placed our organization at risk because of failure to follow policies and procedures. Also equally important is senior leadership buy in. Because this is a major shift, you will need the support of your senior leaders so the message is coming from the top. I found that we were making very little progress in changing the culture until we engaged the support of our senior leaders. Good luck!

• OneView
•
2016-02-12 18:06:22

Unfortunately this is a problem with the tediousness of the task and the fact that legacy CM systems require manually uploading the contract. Our CEO is a 20 procurement professional that got frustrated with the old way of doing things and figured out how to upload contracts automatically to address this issue. He's been using it on an M&A project where thousands of contracts have to be renegotiated and reassigned. It would take years to input those process those contracts manually and he's been able to do it in weeks with accuracy.

Are the contracts customer contract? Perhaps it may be useful to present the contracts based on the unexpired residue of the term left and whether or not the consent of the customer is required (for assignment). Are the contracts being assigned to a third party? Will the customer have to consent to the assignment?
If you are terminating the contract, you may need to look at the requirements under the term of the contract that will allow you to terminate without liability.
Chandra

In the UK, varies by location in the country. Outside of London 350 for CM practitioner, to 600 in the city.

• Nokia Networks
•
2019-08-28 13:15:03

Hi Pippa, thank you for your response. just for clarity: we talk about 350 GBP per day (~8h), 600 GBP per day in London?
to me, this seems rather low. is this adminstrational work? I mean, no negotiation responsibility. no conceptional work?